News Archive

05/04/99 - For the third time since the start of the preseason
and the fifth time in the last year, the Storm has lost a player to a one-year
suspension. WR/DB Alvoid Mays was suspended by the
league on Monday for one full season. As is always the case with such suspensions,
no league or team officials may comment on the nature of the ban. Mays, a former
member of the Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers, did not have an incredibly
productive career with the Storm. He was deactivated in ten of 17 games in 1998 and
did not play in the Week Two game at Milwaukee this season. He caught seven passes
for 73 yards in his Storm career, including two for 16 against Albany in Week One.
Although he dropped what could have been the game-tying touchdown pass on the final
play aganst Albany, he still turned in the most productive game of his career,
supplementing the two receptions with four total tackles, two passes defensed and his
first AFL interception. The Storm's other suspensions came last July, for
Cedric McKinnon and Wayne Walker, and in April, for linemen Keo Coleman and Mark Gunn.

04/29/99 - QB Peter Tom
Willis threw six
touchdown passes, including three to OS George
LaFrance, as the Storm
overcame 58 yards' worth of penalties to defeat the Milwaukee Mustangs,
49-42 in front of a sparse home opening night crowd at the Bradley
Center on Thursday night. Tampa Bay bolted out to a 28-7 lead in the
second quarter on the strength of three Willis touchdown passes and a
34-yard interception return for a touchdown by WR/LB Stevie Thomas.
However, Milwaukee took advantage of two failed Storm drives late in
the second quarter and several penalties to pull within 28-27 early
in the second half. The Mustangs drew no closer, though, as the
Storm managed to score on the ensuing possession and hold Milwaukee
at bay for the rest of the game, finally managing to run out the clock
on three Les Barley runs in the
final 30 seconds. Game Coverage

04/24/99 - In an ending that marked the reverse of
every other Firebird trip to Tampa Bay, a potential game-tying touchdown
pass from Peter Tom Willis fell in and
out of the hands of a Storm receiver---in this case, Alvoid Mays, and the clock ran out as Albany
escaped with a 49-42 win in front of an announced gathering of 10,436 at
the Ice Palace on Saturday night. The game came down to one play thanks to
some confounding clock management in the final minute by the Storm. After
Willis completed an eight-yard pass to Lawrence Samuels to the two-yard-line of
Albany, the Storm let 15 seconds run off the clock, in spite of having one
timeout remaining. By the time the Storm managed to stop the clock by
virtue of Willis spiking the ball down, there were only five seconds left.
On the incomplete pass to Mays, it appeared that there should have been at
least one second remaining on the clock. However, the clock ran down to
zero, and referee Buddy Ward declared the game over. Were it not for a
poor defensive showing by the Storm, though, the game would not have come
down to such urgent circumstances. Tampa Bay allowed the Firebirds to
roll up 390 total yards, including 369 off the arm of Mike Pawlawski, and
let the Firebirds score on seven of 11 possessions. Game Coverage

04/23/99 - Two key pistons in the Storm's engine, linemen
Robert "Pig" Goff and Willie Wyatt, re-joined the team Friday and were
activated from the Refused to Report list. Wyatt, as is his custom in recent
years, missed training camp due to job commitments at a high school in Adamsville,
Ala. Goff, on the other hand, missed training camp due to his duty as an extra on
the set of the Oliver Stone movie On Any Given Sunday. The Storm had
been carrying 23 players on the active roster prior to Friday, so to make room,
the Storm was forced to remove one player from the active roster. That man is Jason Dulick, he of the phenomenal preseason.
He will be placed on injured reserve with
an injury to his right knee. The injury kept Dulick out of practice during the
latter half of this week leading up to the season opener with Albany on Saturday
night.

04/18/99 - The Storm complied with the league's 5:00 p.m. EDT
roster deadline Monday, waiving five players and placing three more on the injured
reserve list. Getting the boot from the Storm were WR Pokey Eckford, OL/DL Casey
Gamble, WR/DB Alundis Brice, OL/DL Booker Pickett and WR/DB Derrick Beatty. Making
the active roster were three players signed to the team just hours before the
preseason tilt last Friday at Florida---WR/DB Derrick Atterberry, DS Carl Greenwood
and FB/LB Vidal Mills. In addition, the Storm signed Tony Plantin, a 6-5, 300-pound
rookie from Clemson, and immediately placed him on the active roster. The Storm
placed two Arena League rookies on the injured reserve list---FB/LB Steve Lee, who
hurt his ankle in the preseason opener with Orlando, and WR/DB Tony Covington, a
former member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks. Half of the
24 on the active roster are AFL rookies. In addition to Atterberry, Greenwood,
Mills and Plantin, the newcomers are: OL/DL Johnie Church, WR/DB Melvin Cunningham,
WR/DB Jason Dulick, DS Tommy Henry, K Matt Huerkamp, OL/DL Tony Plantin, QB Josh
Wallwork, OL/DL Rod Williams and OS Charles Wilson. Current Roster

04/16/99 - The Tampa Bay Storm finished the pre-season at .500 with
a 49-44 win over the Florida Bobcats at the National Car Rental Center. The
Bobcats were one yard away from the win until FB/LB Les Barley ran Florida
FB/LB Michael McClenton out of bounds as time expired. Peter Tom Willis turned in a strong first-half
performance, connecting on 13
of 20 passes for 211 yards and five touchdowns. Two of the scores went to
Stevie Thomas, who led the team with 89
yards on five receptions. Tampa Bay has never lost to the franchise since it moved
to South Florida in 1993, winning all 11 regular season encounters and both
preseason ones. Game Coverage

04/10/99 - For two and a half quarters Saturday night,
it seemed that the Storm and Predators had picked up where they left off
last August in ArenaBowl XII. Tampa Bay was making numerous mistakes, and
Orlando was gleefully capitalizing, forging a 39-14 lead. From there, the
destructive pattern was broken, as AFL rookies Josh Wallwork, Pokey Eckford
and Johnie Church spearheaded a stirring comeback. Wallwork passed for 107
yards and a score, Eckford ran a missed field goal back 56 yards for a
touchdown and Church had two sacks on one possession, helping Tampa Bay
score 25 unanswered points to tie the game at 39-39 with 1:57 left.
However, the result was ultimately unpleasant, as Orlando QB Braniff
Bonaventure hit WR/LB Ty Law on a crossing pattern with five seconds left
to give the Preds a 45-39 win on Saturday night. Orlando tortured the
Storm on the ground, as FB/LBs Bill Hall, Jeff Cothran and Rick Hamilton
combined for 64 yards on 13 carries. The Storm had its share of self-
inflicted wounds, as well, turning the ball over six times.
Game Coverage

04/09/99 - It has been a long wait, but the time has
finally arrived.

The Tampa Bay Storm's ninth season gets underway on Friday night at 7:40pm
EDT at the Ice Palace. The Storm will take on the 1998 ArenaBowl Champion
Orlando Predators in the first preseason game of 1999.

Although the two teams meet twice every season, this is also a rematch of
ArenaBowl XII, a game that most Storm fans would prefer to forget, since
the Preds beat the Storm 62-31. Tampa Bay defeated Orlando twice during
the regular season, 42-34 at the O-rena on June 12 and 56-30 on June 27 at
the Ice Palace. The regular/postseason series is tied at 10-10, including
2-2 in the playoffs. The Storm did win ArenaBowl IX in 1995 over the
Predators by the score of 45-30.

Tickets for the preseason game are genral admission, and proceeds benefit
the Hillsborough Education Foundation.

03/27/99 - With $40 in their hands and a passel of dreams
in their pockets, 148 men, all afflicted with the dreamer's disease, showed up
at Pepin-Rood Stadium on the University of Tampa campus Saturday afternoon to
take a chance on becoming the next George Plimpton and making the journey
from Everyman to football hero. Approximately 150 diehards, including several
yellow-clad members of the Storm Krew, were on hand to observe the proceedings.

With a few straggling in as late as 45 minutes after the 3:00 starting time,
the coaches divided the 148 hopefuls into three groups, rotating them through
shuttle run, broad jump and 40-yard dash stations. From there, they moved
into football-related drills, with prospective receivers and defensive backs
catching passes from potential quarterbacks. All the while, a small cadre of
kickers manned the patch of grass at the south end of the field, practicing
their craft.

In addition to the Storm's coaching staff, who watched, timed and scribbled
notes about the candidates, Storm FB/LB Steve Lee and OL/DL Sylvester Bembery observed with
a watchful eye from the sidelines. Also on hand was former Storm FB/LB
Tony Jones, who will take
the field for the expansion Buffalo Destroyers this season.

With or without any of the optimists, who left with a commemorative Tampa Bay
Storm shirt (which, incidentally, did not read, "I tried out for the Storm
and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"), training camp will open next Saturday
morning. The team will practice for seven days in advance of the April 10
preseason opener at the Ice Palace against Orlando.

03/25/99 - Following in the footsteps of DS
Corey Dowden,
Johnnie Harris has decided to take a
shot at the NFL. The 1998 AFL Defensive Player of the Year recently
signed with the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders' head coach is John Gruden,
who happens to be the brother of Jay Gruden, the former Storm QB and head
coach of the Orlando Predators. Harris' style of defensive play is
similar to that employed by other Raiders defensive backs, which gives
him an edge at making the team.

In other moves, Mel Agee, Jocelyn
Borgella, Alan Campos Harold Gragg and Brett Williams have been placed on
the exempt list. The Storm also signed QB Josh Wallwork, who played his
college ball at the University of Wyoming.

03/13/99 - With the new year, we felt it was
time to finally upgrade our site. Gone are the graphics-laden menus and
invisible tables of the past. Instead, we have opted to use frames,
which have been part of the WWW specifications for several years now.
With the redesign, we decided upon two things:

100% HTML 4.0 compliance.

New features.

What does that mean to you?

As far as HTML compliance, it is probably meaningless to most of you. All you
really need to know is that TSS is best viewed with
version 4.0 or greater of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape
Communicator. (Although we have been avid users of Netscape, IE actually
is currently more accurate and compliant with the HTML 4.0 specifications,
which is why we must recommend using IE to view this site). The reason why? We
have implemented the use of cascading style sheets and Javascript, which
we are sure will enhance your visit.

And the new features? We have added a completely new section to the
website which we call TSS
Interactive. Most of our regular readers know about our guestbook,
but we have added a message board, chat room, and even an e-mail newsletter in
our interactive section. We
plan on adding even more new features to the site throughout the season,
including fan polls and trivia games.

One last thing. The photo galleries have been taken down. We are working
on creating a faster way for them to be viewed, as some of the pictures
can be quite large. As soon as we are done, the galleries will be put
back up.

Following in the footsteps of DS
Corey Dowden,
Johnnie Harris has decided to take a
shot at the NFL. The 1998 AFL Defensive Player of the Year recently
signed with the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders' head coach is John Gruden,
who happens to be the brother of Jay Gruden, the former Storm QB and head
coach of the Orlando Predators. Harris' style of defensive play is
similar to that employed by other Raiders defensive backs, which gives
him an edge at making the team.

In other moves, Mel Agee, Jocelyn
Borgella, Alan Campos Harold Gragg and Brett Williams have been placed on
the exempt list. The Storm also signed QB Josh Wallwork, who played his
college ball at the University of Wyoming.

02/08/99 - Months of rampant speculation ended Monday
afternoon when the National Football League and the Arena Football League
announced a plan for the NFL to purchase up to 49.9 percent stake in the
twelve-year-old AFL. The deal gives the NFL a three-year time frame in
which it has the option to evaluate and purchase a minority share of the
AFL. In order for the NFL to consummate the purchase, 24 out of 31 NFL
owners must approve.

However, the league's owners have already looked favorably on
Arena Football involvement. Last May 22, the league's owners approved a
plan which would allow NFL owners to purchase Arena Football teams. The
resolution marked a significant step for the NFL, as its bylaws had
previously forbidden cross-ownership with any other sport by any incumbent
owner. New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson soon utilized the new
freedom to purchase an AFL expansion team for the New Orleans Arena that
will make its first kickoff in April 2000.

"Our goal is to support football at all levels," said NFL commissioner Paul
Tagliabue in a release. "An interest in the Arena Football League would
enhance our stake in the future of the game, both in the United States and
internationally."

02/06/99 - The Storm filled two major holes by turning to
familiar faces, re-acquiring K Bjorn
Nittmo and FB/LB Les
Barley from the Buffalo Destroyers in exchange for future
considerations. Both were left unprotected by the Storm last fall and were
taken by the Destroyers in the expansion draft.

Barley, the team's Ironman of the Year and the league's all-time leading
rusher with 1,171 career yards, was second-team all-Arena Football
League in 1998 after his most succe